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Saturday, January 7, 2012

PLAYOFF PICKS - WILD CARD WEEKEND

THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME! Here are Eric and Danny's selections forWild Card Weekend

The public has moved this line up 1 point in favor of the Texans whichis shocking to me. The Texans are banged up and have Yates andDelhomme as their quarterback options. Andy Dalton has been testedall season, as has the Bengals defense, and they have made it to thepost season. Look for Scott and Benson to get a lot of touches to tryand find seems in the Texans stout defensive front seven. Utilizingthe running game to open up the play action pass attack as well as thewell-known quick passes from Dalton, the Bengals have a greatopportunity to upset a very hungry Texans franchise for a playoff win. I don't trust the Texans quarterback situation and I know bothdefenses will keep this game close.

ERIC'S PICK: CIN 16 HOU 21

DANNY'S PICK: CIN 17 HOU 16

SATURDAY 8:00PM

Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints -10.5

It is extremely hard to bet against Drew Brees. Now throw in a homegame and its even harder to bet against him. Eric likes the Saints by8, but I think this game will be closer. Brees ultimately will get itdone, but Stafford and his receiving corps are too efficient not tokeep this game within reach. It comes down to the Lions defensemaking plays and creating turnovers. Looking back at last years lossin Seattle, Brees was hit on basically every drop back and their thirddown conversion rate was horrible. Playing in front of a hyped uphome town crowd I do not believe Brees will be one and out again.Statistically, Brees is the best quarterback in the NFL this season.Rodgers has been simply amazing winning 20 of his last 21 (Flynnstarted 2 of the past 23 (1-1)). Stafford throws touchdown passes,but he is not as safe with the ball as Brees. Brees gets this win andmoves on to San Francisco next weekend.

ERIC'S PICK: DET 30 NO 38

DANNY'S PICK: DET 30 NO 35

SUNDAY 1:00PM

Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants -3

Are the Giants for real or simply the beneficiaries of playing anincompetent Dallas secondary twice in the closing weeks of the season? Victor Cruz and Jason Pierre-Paul represent two of the biggestbreakout stars of the 2011 season. Cruz and Nicks present massiveheadaches for any opposing secondary and while his numbers went waydown, running back Ahmad Bradshaw still finds his way into the endzone.

The Falcons played as consistent as a team could throughout theseason. They rarely appeared great but never terrible. I don't feelthey have enough upside potential to dominate teams and the Giantscontinue to demonstrate teams cannot allow them to hang around. JulioJones and Roddy white should have little trouble finding openings inthe New York Secondary and while not the force of nature he once was,Tony Gonzalez remains a viable red zone threat. The Giants hold thepotential to dominate the line of scrimmage and make big plays onoffense. They appear to have momentum and confidence coming into theplayoffs. The Packers snuck in last year and went all the way as didmany of these Giants a few years ago. Until the confidence waivers,I'll ride New York while Danny is on the other side with MATTY ICE.

ERIC'S PICK: ATL 24 NYG 28

DANNY'S PICK: ATL 27 NYG 24

SUNDAY 4:30PM

Pittsburgh -8 @ Denver

ERIC - With the bloom officially off the Tebow rose in Denver, veryfew feel the Broncos can muster any sort of magic to prevail over theSteelers. Despite injuries to Mendenhall and Roethlisberger, theSteelers remain heavy favorites. Defense and a power running attackfueled Denver's mid-season surge. Since then, running back WillisMcGahee began to show his age and star linebacker Von Miller suffereda lingering thumb injury. This placed more pressure on Tebow, orperhaps the Divine, to engineer unlikely wins. Tebow's receiverscannot seem to find any separation or threaten teams down field whichallowed defenses to key in on Denver's quirky run-heavy offense.While there's nothing more in this world I'd like to see more thanTebow trucking James Harrison in Mile High for the go ahead touchdown,it is a bridge too far. Pittsburgh will struggle offensively but itwill not take much to win this one. If God is in fact on Tebow'sside, I doubt he'd provide any divine intervention for a backdoorcover.

DANNY - I see this game as a huge opportunity for Denver. Teams havefigured Tebow and the Bronco's offense out, but have the Bronco'sfigured that out as well so will they develop a new game plan for theSteelers. I will assume John Fox is a smart man and will break outsome new schemes that the Steelers haven't scene on film yet. Tebowshould not be throwing the ball 25+ times in this game. McGahee andBall should run it 35-45 times and hopefully find some creases in theSteelers defense. Where Tebow has to be effective is with theplayaction pass game, and I believe he will. Decker, Royal, andThomas will get open on the Steelers defense as they will be inpress-man coverage probably 95% of the game. The Steelers are bangedup on both sides of the ball. Pouncey has been ruled out, Big Ben'sankle is lingering and that is bad for his style of play going againstthe Broncos premier pass rushers in front of the Denver faithful.Everyone in Vegas and the Media is betting against Tebow, and that isexactly why my money is on Denver. Take the points and I am goingwith the money line +325. Tebow OUTRIGHT!